Quilts are a highlight of St. John’s Kula Festival

When Monnie Gay and her husband, Barry, found the precious family heirloom in 2007, it was wrapped in tissue paper, stuffed in a plastic bag and stored in a cedar chest, likely long forgotten.

Barry’s mother had died that year, and the couple had traveled to Flint, Mich., to help settle her affairs, including sifting through the possessions in her house. The quilt top they found in the attic had not been quilted, and they were surprised to see the fabric was in remarkably good condition — not faded, torn or stained.

“The pattern, called Grandma’s Flower Garden, is so pretty and cheerful,” Gay said. “It has hundreds of flowers in bright pink, blue, purple, orange, yellow and green. Just looking at it makes me smile.”

She and Barry brought the quilt top home to Maui and kept it in their cedar chest. One day, Gay brought it out to air. For the first time, she noticed a note pinned to it, identifying its maker as Barry’s great-grandmother Marie Baumgarten, who had immigrated to Canada from Germany in the late 1800s. The quilt top had stayed in Baumgarten’s family for decades, eventually passing to her granddaughter — Barry’s mother — in America.

At one time Gay considered joining a quilting club so she could get help finishing the piece. That never happened. Then, as she puts it, came a miracle.

“A friend popped by for a visit,” Gay said. “She was with her mother, Patricia Lei Murray, who lived on Oahu but was spending the weekend on Maui. We started talking about quilts, and Patricia said she was a quilter. Well, it turned out she wasn’t just a quilter, she is one of Hawaii’s pre-eminent quilters!”

Gay showed her quilt top to Murray, who said it was at least 100 years old and was a work of love and patience because more than 6,000 bits of cloth had been painstakingly positioned by hand to create its intricate design.

So excited was Murray about the piece, she offered to quilt it and wound up taking it with her that day. She enlarged it to fit a king-size bed, finished quilting it in five months and entered it in the 2011 Hawaii Quilt Guild Show in Honolulu where it placed fifth out of 150 entries and won the coveted Viewer’s Choice Award.

Murray urged Gay to start a quilt show on Maui so more people could enjoy the fine work that quilters on the island, including the Maui Quilt Guild (mauiquilt guild.org), were producing.

“As a member of the congregation, I knew St. John’s Episcopal Church puts on a festival every September,” Gay said. “I thought a quilt show would be a wonderful addition to that event, and that’s how it started.”

Held in 2012, the inaugural show at St. John’s Kula Festival featured the Gays’ quilt and about 25 other quilts created by members of the church and the Maui Quilt Guild. Today the exhibit is one of the highlights of the popular Upcountry Maui fair, with some 70 quilts (different ones each year) adorning the church’s walls, pews and wraparound deck.

Guild members offer several quilts for sale and donate one to the festival’s silent auction. In addition to St. John’s programs, this year’s 35th annual event will benefit Family Life Center, a transitional housing facility, and Ka Hale a ke Ola, which provides counseling, emergency shelter, medical care and other services to the homeless.

Ono food is another big draw. “For example, we’ll have Portuguese bean soup, chow fun, vegan curry, chili and rice, fresh fudge, homemade baked goods, waffles with Kula strawberries and Maui Cattle Co. burgers grilled on-site,” said Marilynn Hirashima, the event’s publicity chairwoman. “The Kids Zone will have things children love such as nachos and macaroni and cheese plus games, face painting, a bounce castle and an artist doing temporary tattoos.”

Attendees can stop by the farmers market, which is stocked with fresh produce, plants and flowers grown in Kula; peruse arts and crafts, including bonsai, paintings and handmade soap and jewelry; find gently used treasures in the gift shop that are a cut above rummage; and enjoy all-day entertainment, including Na Hoku Hanohano award-­winning Kanekoa.

“For me, after worrying about all the details, it’s rewarding to see people having a good time,” Hirashima said. “It’s nice to hear them say, ‘We love this festival! It’s such a great way for families to spend time together.’”

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ABOUT ST. JOHN’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH

In 1899 the Rev. Shim Yin Chin came to Kula from China to teach the children of Chinese farmers to read and write Chinese and learn Chinese classics in addition to their English studies. St. John’s sanctuary was built in 1906-1907 to serve as both a church and school.

Shim’s family emigrated from China to join him in 1914. Mrs. Shim taught with her husband until his death in 1918. She continued the work they started for three decades, bringing clergy from Wailuku to conduct Eucharist twice a month.

After Mrs. Shim retired in 1948, the Rev. Wai On Shim, the Shims’ oldest son, became a vicar at St. John’s. During his two-year ministry a parish hall was constructed, which became Kula’s first community center.

Today the church has about 250 members. Eucharist is celebrated at 7:30 and 9:30 a.m. Sundays, and Evensong is at 5:30 p.m. on the last Sunday of each month. A free fellowship dinner is held at 5:30 p.m. on the last Friday of each month. Everyone is welcome to participate in the services and dinner.

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.